This story reminds us that when God asks us to do something hard, the Lord will supply us with the assurance we need to accomplish it (Judges 6-7).
He looked like an ordinary man, but it struck me strange that I’d never seen him before. Neither had I seen him arrive; rather, as I was keeping watch for my master, he simply appeared, seated by the oak at the far end of the Joash family compound. Gideon had asked me to stand guard while he threshed wheat in the winepress. The Midianites have reduced us to this sneaking around after seven years of rampage on our crops and flocks.
When the man saw that he had Gideon’s attention, he greeted him strangely enough: “God is with you, mighty warrior!”
Gideon looked around wondering whom he could mean. Seeing no one else, he spat his bitterness: “With me, my master? If God is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all the miracle-wonders our parents and grandparents told us about, telling us, ‘Didn’t God deliver us from Egypt?’ The fact is, God has nothing to do with us—he has turned us over to Midian.”
I was right to cringe over his strong talk because in the next moment we both knew that this was no mere man but the voice of God speaking straight into our hearts. Yet Gideon received no tongue lashing for his misplaced bravado – merely, this: “I am sending you to save Israel from Midian.”
Gideon protested: “I’m not strong enough. My clan is the weakest in Manasseh and I’m the runt of the litter.”
But the voice persisted with patient force: “You will defeat Midian because I’ll be with you.”
Gideon looked to me as if to ask what I thought. I could only shrug. He surprised me then, showing more boldness. Addressing the angel, he demanded: “Give me a sign so that I know for sure. And wait here while I prepare your gift.”
That was my cue. I rose and helped Gideon prepare a sacred meal, which we brought back to the oak tree where the angel remained seated. As we approached, the angel instructed us to place the meat and unleavened bread on a rock and next, to pour broth over both. Then he touched the meal with his walking stick and it burst into flames. I was so scared I ran off, but later I saw that Gideon had built an altar there.
I was still on edge later that night when Gideon summoned me and some of the other servants. You wouldn’t believe what he asked us to do! We had to tear down the family altar to Baal and the Asherah fertility pole and rebuild an altar to the Lord. There we were to sacrifice Joash’s prime bull – using the pole for firewood. I had at least seen God’s angel, but the rest of the servants were frightened to death. While we all believed in the Lord, we had made a habit of hedging our bets – keeping the local gods placated – just in case. Now, no one knew what to pray, but Gideon kept us focused. And, at least, we did all of this work under the cover of darkness. There was trouble enough when the townsfolk saw our work in the morning, but Gideon’s father defended his son.
It seemed to me that Gideon changed over the next few days. He confided to me that God had blessed him twice more with signs (Judges 6:36-40). I guess that explained his self-assurance.
Gideon began recruiting troops, even reaching out to the nearby tribes. People began to hope. Maybe we really could overthrow Midian! But then the strangest thing of all happened. Gideon suddenly said the soldiers were too many! He gave us a test: each one of us had to drink from the stream and only those who lapped the water cupped in our hands were chosen. We were only three hundred. What was Gideon thinking!
I was with him the night we positioned our tiny army around the Midianite camp. As we looked into the valley where our foes slept, the odds looked even worse for us. When Gideon called me to accompany him as he spied out the enemy stronghold, I’m ashamed to say now that I secretly hoped the sight would get him to reconsider his strategy.
As we insinuated ourselves within earshot of the sentries we overheard one guard divulge to his comrade: “I had this dream: A loaf of barley bread tumbled into the Midianite camp. It came to the tent and hit it so hard it collapsed. The tent fell!”
His friend said, “This has to be the sword of Gideon son of Joash, the Israelite! God has turned Midian—the whole camp!—over to him.”
Instantly Gideon fell to his knees in grateful prayer. As we raced back to the men, he told me, “Purah, do you see how graciously God has prepared me to lead this battle? The Lord has surely been beside me every step of the way since the day you heard him commission me for this task. Every time my heart has doubted, the Lord has granted me a sign that he has my back. God will work yet more miracles among us. I shall not doubt again.”
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